The smoking rate among people aged 15 and above in China fell by 0.9 percentage points from 2022 to 23.2 percent last year, according to a study released on Thursday.

During the period, the rate of tobacco use among males dropped by 1.4 percentage points to 43.9 percent and that among females decreased by 0.5 percentage points to 1.8 percent.

The rate in rural areas stood at 24.9 percent in 2024, compared with 20.9 percent in cities, according to the study led by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention that involves nearly 200,000 survey participants.

Moreover, around 46.5 percent of nonsmoking people had been exposed to secondhand smoke, down by 5.9 percentage points from 2022. Secondhand smoke exposure was most commonly found in restaurants, homes and indoor working spaces.

Shi Xiaoming, deputy director of the China CDC, said that the smoking rate in China has been declining for years, as online tobacco control campaigns have strengthened and public awareness of the harm of tobacco use is growing.

Efforts aimed at building smoke-free environments and improving smoking cessation services have also yielded results, he added.